


Secret Santa

by Rei_Rei (anti60ne)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-11-22
Packaged: 2017-12-30 19:26:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anti60ne/pseuds/Rei_Rei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jongin embeds romantic subliminal messages into his Secret Santa endeavors, but Luhan is too dumb to get the hint.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day One

  
Luhan didn't think twice about putting his name down and dropping the strip of paper into the snapback, seeing how everyone else was doing the same thing. It had become a dance club tradition to hold a Secret Santa every year, and being the broke college students that they all were, who wasn't up for a gift exchange with a predetermined budget of 25 bucks?  
  
Plus, one could exercise the limitless creativity (read: prank potential) for such occasions. Chanyeol, for one, would take great delight in gifting his Mortal with things that were borderline traumatizing.  
  
Luhan did it just to go with the flow, never expecting much in return. He was a tad lacking in creativity, so he would usually just settle for the safest of the safe - holiday cards, sweets, cornyass encouraging notes attached to care packages that read something along the lines of "Good luck on your exams! xoxo".  
  
Jongin, on the other hand, usually shared the same sentiments as Luhan. For him, finals week meant not only exams, but also endless dance practice for the end-of-semester showcase, and he always had to prepare a solo (with great talent came great expectations and stress). But this year was different.  
  
  
  
"Who did you get?"  
  
Sehun plopped his lanky self down on Jongin's bed unceremoniously, ignoring the owner's whining. Jongin scrunched his nose at the oncoming whiffs of body odor; Sehun must have just come from lacrosse practice.  
  
"Get your sweaty ass off of my bed, you dick."  
  
Jongin was promptly ignored as Sehun continued his train of thought.  
  
"Let me guess..." Sehun squinted at Jongin. "Kris?" Jongin's face remained unwavered. He returned his attention to typing up his microecon notes. "Kyungsoo?" No answer.  
  
"Luhan?"  
  
Jongin stilled, but said nothing. He contemplated whether it would help his cause if Sehun, a close friend of Luhan, knew about this. Alternatively, it could backfire and make him want to stick his head into the freezer considering how Sehun was literally gossip central.  
  
"It has to be one of those three because I know who matched everyone else."  
  
Jongin worried his lips, still debating, when Sehun let out a whistle.  
  
"Tao just asked me to help him with Kris," Sehun looked down at his phone. "And I'm pretty sure you don't have Kyungsoo because you're acting too suspicious, so it has to be Luhan. Hah!" Sehun jabbed an index finger in Jongin's face and Jongin had to remind himself why he was friends with an obnoxious ass that read him like an open book, including his crush of several months.  
  
"If you were expecting me to ask you for help--"  
  
"Nope. You're all on your own with this one, dude."  
  
Jongin stared after Sehun's retreating back. He wasn't sure what just happened but the disconcerted feeling pooling in the pit of his stomach didn't feel particularly reassuring.  
  
He just wished he had reacted fast enough to at least say "fuck you" to Sehun's face instead of the smugness he had left hanging in the air.  
  
  
  
Jongin didn't sleep a wink the night before the first day of the Secret Santa week. It was also finals week, so theoretically, pulling an all-nighter was justifiable, except he was up all night devising a plan for surprising Luhan instead of working on mock essay topics for comparative lit (which he could get to at some point before the actual exam, he consoled himself).  
  
He managed to catch a power nap of 30 minutes between his last class of the day and dance practice, surviving on espresso shots from Starbucks and several Red Bulls. When Yixing hit stop on the iPod and the dance studio was filled with chatters instead of music, Jongin immediately slipped into zombie mode, dropping to his back and sprawling on the cool wooden floor.  
  
"You look like shit."  
  
Jongin cracked open an eye with great difficulty. Luhan's deadpan face came into view, squatting next to Jongin. Jongin huffed a weak laugh.  
  
"That's probably an understatement." Jongin closed his eye again, his eyelids feeling like they weighed a ton. As much as he would like to have a proper conversation with Luhan, with his eyes open and preferably in a seated position, his body just refused to cooperate right now.  
  
"Take it easy. Finals week just started."  
  
"Oh I didn't stay up studying." Sleep deprivation disabled Jongin's brain filter and it was already too late when he realized what he had disclosed. The embarrassment jolted his eyes open and Jongin knew he had to give an explanation when he saw Luhan cocked a curious eyebrow.  
  
"Uhh, I was planning what to do for my Mortal." Might as well come clean now that he wasn't nearly cogent enough to fib at the moment.  
  
"Mmm." The look Luhan gave him was unreadable and Jongin wasn't sure if Luhan was impressed that he was taking it so seriously, or creeped out that he was taking it so seriously.  
  
"Well," Luhan straightened up, eyes still on Jongin. "I hope they were worth all that work," he said half-jokingly, tossing Jongin a good-humored smile before turning around and leaving.  
  
 _You have no idea_ , Jongin thought, gazing at the back of Luhan's head on propped elbows.  
  
  
  
Arriving in front of his dorm room, Luhan didn't realize he had stepped on something until crinklng noise sounded beneath his feet. He looked down. Yep, he was stepping on a brown paper bag. He picked it up and thought it was someone else's trash when he saw a post-it taped to the side. Luhan smoothed out the note.  
  
 _Harubo gummy bears enclosed, at your service as study buddies_  
 _Good luck on your poli sci exam tomorrow!_  
xoxo, Secret Santa  
  
"What."  
  
Luhan stared at the note. While it wasn't a secret that he loved Harubo gummy bears, most people didn't (or shouldn't) know his exams schedule. The only person that would know that he had a poli sci exam the next day was the person who shared that class with him - Baekhyun.  
  
  
  
Luhan stretched out his right hand, stiff from gripping his pen too tight for the two-hour duration of the exam, as he handed in his booklet. He looked up and spotted Baekhyun a few feet ahead, already heading out the lecture hall. Luhan shuffled forward and fell in step.  
  
"Yo."  
  
"Hey hyung." Baekhyun turned and broke into a smile when he saw Luhan. "What'd you think of the exam?"  
  
"It was alright, I guess. I had to rack my brain for that topic on Kissinger though, so fingers crossed." Luhan rubbed at his temple as he shifted the weight of his backpack.  
  
"Yeah, that one was hard. I don't know, I'm just hoping for a good curve." Baekhyun mussed his hair that looked like it badly needed shampooing. Luhan nodded empathically.  
  
"Hey, Baek." Luhan began tentatively. "You're not my Secret Santa by any chance, are you?"  
  
Baekhyun looked at Luhan incredulously and laughed. "What? Hyung, you're not supposed to ask!" They turned a corner and went down another flight of stairs, hordes of bleary-eyed students trudging past them.  
  
"Well, alright, fine. But--"  
  
"Even if I was, I wouldn't tell you." Baekhyun stuck out a tongue. "Ah! I need to run back to the dorm to grab something, so I'll see you later." He waved at Luhan before taking off in a rush.  
  
Luhan was left as confused and suspicious as ever.


	2. Day Two

"Ugh fuck." 

Jongin slammed the blaring alarm so hard the knob poked an indentation into his palm. But that wasn't what he swore at; it was the fact that 8AM was way too early to be conscious. He rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face deep inside his pillow. He briefly toyed with the idea of skipping comp lit when he remembered that he shared that class with Luhan. 

"Why the fuck does this class have to be so early?!! ARGHHH." He whimpered aloud and rolled around in bed before his phone rang.

"Oh Sehun, I'm going to fucking end you." He dangled off the bed, stretching long arms toward his desk for the phone, a futile effort considering it was a good three feet away from his bed on the other side of his room. 

Groaning, Jongin finally forced himself up and crawled to his desk, a hand blindly searching for the ringing device. 

"You better be on fire to be calling me this early," Jongin drawled as menacing as he could in his sleepy voice.

"Uh I'm not but I have coffee?" 

Jongin jolted awake at the voice, almost dropping his phone in surprise. 

"Luhan hyung?"

"Good morning to you too."

Jongin wanted to set himself on fire instead.

 

Turned out Luhan wanted to ask Jongin to borrow his copy of  _The Metamorphosis_  and got him coffee as the rental fee. He needed it to practice mock essays, Luhan said. Jongin half-listened to Luhan's explanation, not that it was necessary in the first place, because Jongin was too distracted by the fact that Luhan just called him and instead of making good use of his sexy bed voice to muster up a sexy-sounding response, Jongin indirectly cursed Luhan to death by arson. 

Regardless, Jongin remembered to bring the book requested and made it to comp lit on time, and all was right again as he sat down in the seat Luhan had saved him. 

"God, I am so tired I can't tell I'm alive." Jongin mumbled as he pulled his binder out of the messenger bag. Luhan chuckled, pausing the pen twirling in his hand. He set a lidded paper cup atop Jongin's desk, steam rising through the open hole.

Luhan returned his attention to the slides projected onto the jumbo screen and twirling his pen, and Jongin just stared first at the coffee and then Luhan's flawless profile. He whipped his head back when Luhan caught him through the corner of his eyes and Jongin snapped up the cup and rushed a sip. 

He almost swore aloud when the liquid burned his tongue.

 

It wasn't until the dance practice ended that Jongin remembered he hadn 't prepared his Day Two gift yet. He had been too absentminded during comp lit and then caught up with cramming for gen chem that he forgot to go pick up the things he needed at the mart. Now he had less than an hour to whip up something mildly impressive rather than mindblowing and he was very mad at himself for this. 

 

Luhan was dozing off at his desk, head drooping toward the haphazard pile of notes on the t-value table and one-way ANOVA, when someone rapped on his door. His head snapped up and he blinked several times, unsure if he was dreaming the sound. The knock came again. Luhan half-groaned a yawn and pushed himself up from the chair.

"Special delivery~"

Yixing waved a small plastic bag before Luhan's face. He let himself in after tossing the bag to Luhan. 

"What's this?" Luhan asked curiously, turning the bag between his hands. He heard the sheets rustle. "Get off my bed!" He barked in the general direction of his bed without looking up. It carried some weight and felt lumpy, wrapping paper crunching lighly between his fingers. 

"I don't know, why don't you open it." Yixing pushed himself off the bed and plopped down on the bean bag chair instead. 

Luhan peeled open the bag cautiously. Letting the bag fall to the floor, he unfolded the layers of wrapping paper

"Wow."

"What is it?" Yixing leapt up and poked his head in, boring eyes into the content in Luhan's hands.

It was a keychain, a fluffy, snowman-shaped object hanging off of it, googly eyes stuck to what would be its head and two sticks glued to the top of it.

"What the hell is that?" Yixing frowned.

"It's a deer, duh." Luhan picked it up by the metallic ring and let it dangle before his eyes, examining the said animal. 

"If anything, that's a bear." Yixing declared.

"Are you stupid? It has  _antlers_." Luhan ran the pad of his index finger over the two furry wires sticking up. "It's brown, it's got antlers, and look at these googly eyes. It's obviously a deer." 

Yixing peered at Luhan and opened his mouth to voice some sarcastic remark like "Do you see yourself in it is that why", but decided against it when he saw how Luhan's mouth curved into a smile.

"Whatever." Yixing straightenedd up and padded toward the door. "I gotta get back to studying." Luhan grunted a bye in disguise at the shutting door. 

He bounced the keychain in his palm as he returned to his desk. Then he set the animal, seated up straight, on top of his notes. He slouched forward and perched his chin on top of folded hands, eyes level with the googly eyes. 

After a moment of staring contest with the deer, Luhan gently patted its head before shifting it off his notes. 

"Thanks for the study break,  _xiao lu_."

 

"So??"

Yixing squeezed the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he fingered through a disorganized pile of lecture print-outs.

"You forgot the tail," Yixing said nonchalantly. "Good job."

Jongin groaned and fell backward on his bed. "He hated it, didn't he? He thought it was ugly. Dammit. I knew I should have spent more time on it but I had that stupid study group to go to. UGH."

"A tail-less deer. Adorable."

"I'm glad you find my misery delightful, hyung." 

Jongin jabbed his finger at the End Call button and huffed begrudgingly. He let his arm drop, his phone softly thudding on the comforter.

A few seconds later, his phone beeped. It was a text message from Yixing.

_From: Yixing hyung_

_He said wow and then smiled._

_  
_Jongin almost dropped the phone on his face. He stared at the screen and read it three times. Another message came.

 

_I almost pulled a muscle in my face from cringing as I typed that msg. Jsyk._

 

Jongin's smile grew so large and persistent that his cheekbones were getting sore. Yixing could have had muscle paralysis in one side of his face (or both sides, even) for all he cared.

 


	3. Day Three

He might not look it, but Jongin (thought he) was rather brilliant at planning.

(Or perhaps only when it came to do with Luhan.)

 

After a three-hour nap, Sehun finally dragged his lazy ass out of his room, the invisible hand of potential F's pushing him in the direction of the library for a study group held by the ever-so-conscientious Joonmyeon. He really needed to start committing those abnormal psych terms to memory, seeing how he had roughly ten hours to his exam to know the names of 50 different drugs. Totally doable. 

He still couldn't stop the itch in his ass about 30 minutes into Joonmyeon penning drug names into a neat chart on the white board. Sehun mumbled an excuse to the urinals and slipped out of the room. He just needed some fresh air, he decided. 

Fresh air that apparently only existed back in his suite. 

 

"What magical fuckery is this?!" 

Sehun exclaimed in a cracked voice that sounded more like an overly excited Jongdae rather than his own, but he was too shocked by the scene in the kitchen to feel even slightly ashamed. 

"What the fuck are you doing here??" Jongin spun around, a spatula in his hand. "You're supposed to be at Joonmyeon hyung's study group!!!" He was almost screaming, his face red from embarrassment and disbelief (that his plan had failed, goddammit).

"Study break. Sue me." Sehun let the door slam shut behind him as he approached Jongin warily, as if his best friend was building a bomb. "Seriously, this is mortifying. You're in the kitchen wearing a fucking  _apron_. I think I need to drag you to the school therapist to sort out some mommy issues."

"Fuck you, I don't have any  _mommy issues_ ," Jongin mimicked in a tone that made him want to slap himself across the face. "Get out. I have stuff to do." He pointed at Sehun with the spatula, almost flinging cookie dough on his face. Sehun ducked with an agility that Jongin despised and walked around him to the other side of the round dining table.

Sehun gawked at the mounds of dough on the baking sheet. He picked up a cookie mold from the table, fingers pinching the plastic rim and face distorted in horror, as if it contained deadly microorganisms. He scrutinized the object under the fluorescent light.

"Don't touch that!" Jongin snatched the mold out of Sehun's hand. "You didn't even wash your hands." He muttered as he padded to the sink, running the plastic under the faucet.  

Sehun squinted at Jongin's back, hard. He folded his arms across his chest. His gaze persisted when Jongin returned to the table and resumed scooping cookie dough from a bowl and slapping it on the baking sheet, ignoring Sehun's presence. A silent Sehun was as good as dull wallpaper.  

"Well." Sehun spoke coolly after a moment. "I should probably get back to the library." 

"Yes, you should. Now get out and leave me and my cookies in peace." Jongin replied without looking up, forehead scrunched in concentration as he pressed the mold into a mound of dough. 

 

Sehun almost skipped his way back to the library and when he rejoined the study group, Jongdae was momentarily bewildered by the clownish grin on Sehun's face. Joonmyeon didn't even notice that he had left, drawing overlapping circles around Methylphenidate and Phenethylamine. 

 

Jongin had been staring at his phone for five minutes. Specifically, he had been staring at a text message. 

_From: Dumbo_

_I'm running behind on my coding project so I can't make the delivery for you tonight.. sorry :c_

_  
_"Fuck me." Jongin groaned. This was the second glitch in his plan today and he was this close to ramming his head into the wall. He couldn't ask anyone else because he had already scheduled them for subsequent deliveries, and while it was tempting to just swap Chanyeol with Kyungsoo, Jongin felt insecure with the option seeing that Chanyeol had another coding project due by the end of the week. He really couldn't afford to take any more risks.

He could ask Sehun. Yeah, he  _could_. But of course he wouldn't. Aside from the predictable mockery and unreasonable demand for Jongin to literally grovel, Sehun would probably just botch the whole thing. That was another risk he couldn't take.

Jongin was left with only one option.

 

"Jongin?" Luhan swung the door open and was visibly surprised. "What's up?"

"Uhh, is this a bad time?" Jongin peeked past Luhan and saw stacks of books surrounding a laptop set on the coffee table.

"No," Luhan smiled and took a step backward for Jongin to enter. "I could use a study break, actually." Jongin nudged the door close before surveying Luhan's room. He had visited Luhan's room before, but it was the first time he was there alone. Jongin suddenly felt his body grow stiff and the air suddenly became too thick. Then his eyes landed on the deer keychain sitting next to the mouse. 

"You kept it." Jongin blurted. He mentally kicked himself in the shin while tensing every cell of his being to keep his face undistorted.

"Hm?" Luhan raised his head from his laptop. He followed Jongin's eyes (which, unbeknownest to himself, were still glued to his own handicraft) and laughed. 

"Oh this? Someone gave it to me, my Secret Santa, probably." Luhan picked up the deer by the ring. Jongin wanted to defenestrate himself upon the absence of the tail. "Isn't it cute?" 

Had Luhan looked to Jongin for a reaction before returning to typing on his laptop, he would have seen how Jongin just opened and closed his mouth several times like a dying fish.

"So..." Luhan said when he stopped typing and leafed through  _Crime and Punishment_. "What's up?" Jongin suddenly remembered he was still standing there in Luhan's room, motionless and soundless. If Luhan hadn't said anything, he might have become one with the wallpaper. 

"Right." Jongin cleared his throat. He walked up to the coffee table and shot an arm forward, a white grocery bag hanging from his hand and above Luhan's laptop. "Delivery."

"Another one??" Luhan looked up and took the bag from Jongin. The weight sat at the base like a pyramid, the bottom of the bag flattening out. Jongin watched Luhan set the bag on the table and untie it. Luhan blinked several times. Jongin felt like time had stopped and all that existed was his own heartbeat roaring inside his ears.

"How." - was all Luhan said, in a bare whisper. 

"You don't like it?" Jongin said before he could stop himself, but he quickly remedied the slip of tongue. "I mean, uh, what is it?" 

Luhan didn't even notice. It was like he was too engrossed in processing what he was looking at. 

"It's... deer-shaped cookies." Luhan gingerly took out the paper plate, saran wrap covering the treats. He set the plate down next to his laptop, eyes still boring into the dozen of antlered animals. 

"Chocolate-- I mean, they look like chocolate chip cookies?" Jongin raised his pitch so it sounded more like a tentative question rather than a probing statement.

Luhan nodded slowly. He picked up a cookie and raised it to his eyes, examining it for a few seconds before taking a bite while Jongin watched, unblinking. 

"Hmm." 

Luhan's face took on an expression that could be unimpressed, mildly interested, or disgust masked by feigned composure. Jongin tried to decipher which one it was but his train of thought was interrupted when Luhan called his name.

"Wanna try one?" Luhan offered, pushing the plate toward Jongin. "They're pretty good."

"Are they really?" Jongin sounded just a tad too excited. 

"Yeah, try it." Luhan beamed at him and took another bite. 

Then Jongin realized what was happening.

"Uh actually I don't think--I mean, I don't really like cookies...?"

"Oh." Jongin thought he saw a tiny frown on Luhan's forehead and that couldn't be good. "No well I like them but I just um I mean they're for you so I really shouldn't--"

"Yeah but there's no way I can finish all of them anyway," Luhan eyed the remaining 11 cookies with pity. "Plus, it's just one, I'm sure they won't mind, my Secret Santa."

Jongin really couldn't find it in himself to say no when Luhan waved a cookie in front of his eyes. He sighed.

"Alright. Fine I'll have one." 

Jongin didn't know what this feeling could be labelled, the feeling that permeated through him like a warm ocean wave, when he took a bite and Luhan looked so expectant, as if he was the one that baked them and wanted to impress Jongin. 

What he knew for sure though, was that it was something larger, better, sweeter than the chocolate that melted against his tongue.


	4. Day Four

Jongin had a full day of exams with much needed cramming in between, which Sehun claimed his best friend should have told him but didn't, leaving him in a dire shortage of gamers aka procrastiNation comrades.

Sehun pouted as he packed up the Xbox, heaving an exaggerated sigh.

"Maybe I should study," he mumbled. "Nah." Sehun changed his mind when he spotted Kyungsoo heading out the suite with a mailing tube tucked under his arm.

"Hyung!"

Kyungsoo stopped dead in his tracks and rolled his head around slowly, unsure if he is the one being addressed.

"Oh, hey, Sehun."

"Where are you off to?" Sehun eyed the tube that Kyungsoo had set standing on the floor.

"Oh just delivering something for Jongin." Kyungsoo was too honest for his own good, Sehun mused while suppressing a cackle. Kyungsoo was unaware of the devilish glint in Sehun's eyes.

"But don't you have a bio exam later?" Kyungsoo nodded. "How about I do the delivery for you? Then you'll have more time to study," Sehun offered pseudo-helpfully.

It worked. Kyungsoo's eyes lit up and shoulders slackened.

"Oh! Yeah, that'd be great!" Kyungsoo handed the tube to Sehun. "It's for Luhan hyung, by the way." Sehun almost snorted at the unnecessary explanation. "Thanks Sehun!" He turned around and beamed before resuming the stroll back to his room.

"Well, that was easy." Sehun chirped, assessing the tube as he handled it from one hand to another. His lips curved into a smirk and he set out to Luhan's dorm.

  
"Hey!" Luhan was pleasantly surprised when he opened the door to Sehun. "What's up?" He left the door open and let Sehun come in. Sehun hesitated at the door as he took in the sight of Luhan's room looking like he had been trying to catch a chicken running around with its head cut off.

"Why are you still standing there?"

"Uh because I don't want to step on your..." Sehun trailed off as he bent down and picked up a loose leaf. "...comp lit notes?" Sehun actually couldn't tell which class the scribbles on the paper were for, but knowing Luhan, a creative writing major, comp lit was probably the exam he was most stressed over.

"Does that say Kafka anywhere?" Luhan asked offhandedly as he picked up a pile of paper and stacked them up sloppily. Sehun scanned the notes. Good thing Luhan's handwriting was relatively neat (at least in comparison to Kris') or he wouldn't have been able to distinguish between Kafka and Keats.

"Nope. Don't think so."

"Okay then just come in." Sehun frowned dubiously and Luhan explained before the younger boy questioned his exam-reduced sanity. "I just typed up all the notes on Kafka so those are good as trash."

"Oh. Alright then." Sehun shrugged and sauntered in, bouncing the tube in his hands.

"What's that?" Luhan noticed the cardboard cylinder and eyed it curiously. "You got a poster? Wait," Luhan narrowed his eyes at Sehun suspiciously. "You're not here to brag to me about another Miranda Kerr poster are you?"

".... No geez what do you take me for." Sehun denied with a grouchy pout.

"A Miranda Kerr groupie."

"That was a rhetorical question."

"I wasn't addressing you, just stating a fact. To myself."

Sehun blinked and decided to shrug off Luhan's weirdness. He had better things to do right now. Like "helping" Jongin with his Secret Santa plans like any best friend would. Sehun was an excellent helper, especially when it came to Jongin.

"ANYWAY. This is actually for you." Sehun had to force his eyes wide open to suppress the innate urge to wiggle his eyebrows. Instead, he nonchalantly handed over the tube to Luhan, who was thoroughly surprised.

"For me?" Luhan took the tube. He set it down upright and began to work the lid open. "From my Secret Santa?"

"Mhmm." Sehun lazily threw his arms across the chest and watched Luhan take out the roll with a curious upturn of lips. Then his mouth spread into a full grin when Luhan unrolled the poster and gasped.

"OH. MY. GOD."

It was a signed poster of Alex Ferguson, the only one missing in Luhan's collection of Man U's star players.

"Sehun. SEHUN. IT'S A POSTER. OF FERGUSON. SIGNED. BY FERGUSON." Luhan squeaked as he whipped his head back and forth between the poster and a very amused Sehun.

"I think I'm going to cry. I just. I can't."

Sehun became a little alarmed when he saw Luhan's face slowly scrunching up into an impending whimper. He opened his mouth to tell Luhan to pull himself together but then opted against it when an idea suddenly occurred to him. He quietly took out his phone from the back pocket and tilted his body so he could work the device out of Luhan's line of sight. He opened the camera and pressed the video record button.

Then he mentally swore when he turned back around to face a composed Luhan rolling the poster back into the tube.

"Wait, what are you doing? Aren't you going to put it up?"

"Nah, not now." Luhan capped off the tube and set it aside next to his desk. "I won't be able to concentrate having it on the wall. I'll put it up after comp lit is over."

"So..." Sehun chose his words carefully. Now that he'd missed the chance to film Luhan bawling out of gratitude with dripping snots, he had to get some memorable reaction as consolation prize. "I take it you're very satisfied with this gift?"

Luhan turned and looked at Sehun like he was asking for Luhan's bank account number.

"Sehun... are you my Secret Santa?"

Sehun almost choked on his own spit. He coughed out a few dry chuckles before replying a semi-convincing no. Seeing that Luhan was still side-eyeing him unappeased, Sehun offered something else in exchange.

"I _am_ very close with them though."

Luhan hummed in contemplative acknowledgment as his eyes returned to the stack of notes on his desk.

"Will you tell them to stop?" He said finally in a soft voice.

 _Well, that wasn't what I expected at all,_ Sehun thought as his eyes snapped open in surprise.

"Stop.. giving you stuff? But that's what they're supposed to-"

"I know," Luhan cut him off. "But they're doing too much. Everything before this was fine but this, the poster, is just..." He trailed off, voice fading as his eyes drifted to the tube wistfully.

Sehun watched Luhan, head cocked to the side in thought. He was looking for a reaction, and while this wasn't quite he had in mind, it actually exceeded his expectations by a whole lot. He could work with this, definitely.

"You know, they're doing all this because they want to." Sehun spoke up, tone void of the usual flippancy. "They could give you bubble tea and candy just like what everyone else is doing. It'd be cheap and easy and it'd make sense. But _this_ , they're putting a lot of thought into it." Sehun paused, then added. "For a reason, probably."

Luhan was quiet, chewing on his lower lip and eyes flitting over lines of quotes by Oscar Wilde and Maya Angelou.

 

"Anyway," Sehun cleared his throat and straightened up. "I should get going. Need to cram the hell out of physics."

"Okay." Luhan said half-heartedly to Sehun's back. The door closed with a soft click and he was alone with his thoughts. Thoughts about his Secret Santa, thoughts about what Sehun just said.

 

He looked at his notes again and a quote caught his eyes.

 

_"Never love someone who treats you like you're ordinary."_

It was something he had jotted down during a lecture on Oscar Wilde. It wasn't even a test-worthy quote because it wasn't from an actual work of Wilde's, but Luhan had liked the way the words rolled off his tongue. He had forgotten about it until now, when he wasn't feeling quite comfortable with being treated like he's extraordinary.

 

Luhan gave the tube one last look before he straightened up and opened a new Word document, a soft smile lingering on his face.

 

 


	5. Day Five

Luhan raised his arms and stretched with an ungraceful yawn once he was outside the comp lit lecture room, oblivious to his passing classmates side-eyeing him. The hardest exam of this semester was finally over, and Luhan felt like he could breathe again. He rubbed his eyes and yawned again, longing for his bed and a nice, long nap.

  
The nap ended up to be four hours. Or longer, if not for his phone ringing and pulling him out of the sweet state of unconsciousness. His first instinct was to reject the call, but he still cracked one eye open and squinted at the caller ID.

"Yes Tao" Luhan mumbled.

Tao almost never called Luhan, or anyone, when it came to the smartphone technology. He was a firm believer of SMS communication and would only resort to the inferior Call button for emergencies.

"Are you in your room? I have to give you something and I'm outside your dorm."

Luhan groaned. This was definitely not an emergency and he definitely did not feel like moving away from his pillow.

"Now?"

Tao launched into a long-winded explanation (that Luhan quickly tuned out) about how he was on his way to his mech e exam and would go straight to the engineering library to study afterward, and whatever he needed to give him had to be in Luhan's hands today. So basically, yes, _now_.

"Alright, fine, come up."

"Actually, I was hoping you could just come down and get it..." Tao's voice grew smaller, awaiting for the other end of the line to explode.

"....." Luhan was still too groggy to rage but he was certainly not pleased by the request.

"I'm running late to my exam, _ge_!!! _Baituola_ *~" The younger boy pleaded in a whiny tone and Luhan grunted an okay in Mandarin before hanging up. The ease with which Tao could have his ways by mimicking a pubescent girl was both frustrating and nauseating.

Luhan quickly threw on a shirt and grabbed his keys, then took the elevator down to the lobby. When Tao saw him, he rushed forward and practically hurled a small, white gift box in the general direction of Luhan.

"Here you go! Later."

Then he was gone.

Luhan blanked for a few seconds then looked down at the object that had miraculously missed his face and landed in his hands. He sighed and retreated his steps back to the elevator bank.

Nudged by curiosity, Luhan opened the box in the elevator, pushing the nondescript ribbons off the edge. He tucked the lid in between his teeth and leafed open the wrapping paper.

The lid dropped as his jaw slackened, gaping at what was inside the box and Luhan snapped up his head, prying the elevator doors open again when they were about to close on his floor.

His heart was racing and drumming so loud and he didn't know why.

  
Once he was back in his room, Luhan put the box on his desk before sitting down, wide awake with scrutinizing eyes trained on the object lying inside. Moments later, he finally reached in and picked it up, rotating it in his hands.

It was a Rubik's cube. Not just any regular Rubik's cube that you could find in a shop off the streets or purchase on Amazon.com. It was custom-made, and Luhan knew this because there were Chinese characters inked on the faces of random cubelets, most likely a message. It was a puzzle within a puzzle.

Luhan loved puzzles, so he got to work, brain stimulated by the thrill of solving the cube. But it took him longer - almost double the usual amount of time - because the inscribed cubelet faces were white-on-black, making them a whole different cube face on their own. Luhan was forced to forgo his typical strategy and try a different approach, in which he would aim to get all the characters on the same face first. That was the whole point to this task, after all.

 

否此?喜单是如简欢

 

When he was finally done, Luhan was faced with another problem - the characters were scrambled. He had to unscramble them to decipher the message. It turned out to be easier than he thought, considering that Chinese words, to his luck, usually came in pairs of characters.

 

喜欢是否如此简单?*

 

But then there was that question mark. Something told Luhan that he was missing something. There had to be more to this.

Luhan stared at the unscrambled message he had written on a piece of paper. Then his eyes darted to the box. He suddenly had an idea, picking up the box upside down and shaking it. The contents fell out haphazardly on the desk. Luhan rummaged through the pile and saw it. A small strip of paper with another message, penned in blue ink.

 

X or O

 

Luhan smoothed out the strip and put it underneath the deciphered message in Chinese characters.

 

喜欢是否如此简单?

X or O

 

"What the hell does this mean?" Luhan muttered. The words stared back at him in silence. He turned and tossed the Chinese words over his tongue, _xihuan, shifou, ruci, jiandan._

_shifou_. Yes or No.

X or O.

 

Luhan slumped backward in his chair, exhaling. He finally solved the puzzle, but he still didn't have the answer.

 

  
"Did you deliver my stuff?" Jongin asked Tao when the taller boy shuffled into the empty classroom save for Jongin and Sehun. They had agreed to study for the nonlinear dynamics exam that they would all be sitting for in less than 10 hours.

"Huh?" The question went right over Tao's head as he plopped down and threw his messenger bag down on a desk next to Sehun, effectively jolting Sehun awake from his catnap.

"You know, for Luhan hyung..." Jongin whispered, which only served to amuse Sehun.

"You really think I wouldn't have found out by now? Really?" Sehun drawled before releasing a yawn that seemed to go on forever. Jongin glared at him and suppressed the urge to ball up a grease-drenched napkin and toss it into Sehun's mouth.

"Yeah, of course, I gave it to him hours ago." Tao ignored Sehun's comment and supplied, to Jongin's relief.

"Did he say anything, or..." Jongin couldn't help but ask. Out of his line of sight, Sehun rolled his eyes at the question. He knew Jongin well enough to know that Jongin was insecure, as always, with how much his endeavors would impress (or fail to interest) Luhan.

"Uhh, if he did I didn't get to hear it, 'cuz I just kinda tossed it to him and ran."

"...."

Before Jongin could decide if he should yell at Tao for being sloppy with his valuable gift or be satisfied at least the minimum requirements were met, Sehun piped up.

"I don't think you need to worry about that, to be honest."

Jongin whipped his head toward Sehun.

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

Sehun glanced at him and suddenly pushed off his seat and walked to the other side of the room.

"Okay, confession: I intercepted Kyungsoo's delivery yesterday."

Jongin realized why Sehun moved a good five feet away from him because he just involuntarily threw out his arms and were now making clawing motions at his nosy best friend.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT OH SEHUN"

"Hang on," Sehun opted to run behind Tao and grip his shoulders as a human shield as Jongin flew out his seat and lunged at Sehun. "Let me finish!!"

Jongin scowled at him but held his tongue and huffed as he dropped back into the chair.

"Alright, well, he was visibly elated to see the poster."

Jongin thought about this for a second.

"But that's probably because it's a Ferguson poster. He'd get excited with anything related to Chelsea."

"True, but he was," Sehun searched within the limited word bank inside his non-humanities-major head, "uh, impressed. Definitely impressed. By the effort. _Your_ effort."

Sehun didn't tell Jongin the way Luhan's face lit up when the significance of the gift sank in. Or how Luhan's voice turned soft because he thought he didn't deserve this much. And he certainly didn't tell Jongin the way Luhan looked at the tube after tucking the poster back in, like it was more than one of his favorite football players printed on high-res photography paper, like it meant something much larger than what Jongin could have imagined.

Jongin let Sehun's words sit in his mind and then settle to the bottom of his stomach, where they felt not exactly reassuring nor unnerving. But they felt _right_ , just right. Sehun knew this, too, because there was now a grin on Jongin's face that he was trying to hide.

 

 

*A whiny way of saying "please" in Mandarin.

*"Is liking someone really this simple?"


	6. Day Six

"Yixing, I have a question."

Luhan suddenly spoke, eyes fixated on the Rubik's cube in his hands. Yixing hummed to show he was listening, head still buried in the robotics kit, wires and chips littering next to Luhan's feet atop the coffee table.

"What does this mean?"

Yixing looked up to find a slab of Chinese characters shoved in his face. He took the cube from Luhan's hand.

"Huh." He was intrigued. This usually led to spontaneous scheming to some degree.

"Well, it's a yes or no question, obviously." Yixing stated as if doubting Luhan's ability to read his native language.

"I know that," Luhan huffed in exasperation. "I mean why did I get this fricken' riddle from my Secret Santa?"

Yixing looked from Luhan's frowny face to the cube in his hand, then he trained his eyes at a spot on his unfinished robot in contemplation.

"How do you know when you like someone?" Yixing asked, studying the characters on the cube. He marveled at the ingenuity and wondered how in the world did Jongin pull this off, considering the boy understood no Chinese characters that constituted more than three strokes.

"Well," Luhan drew his legs into his chest, eyes wandering to the ceiling in thought. "If they make me happy? And if they make me feel..." he searched for the right word and stopped short.

"Special?" Yixing supplied helpfully.

"Yeah," Luhan chewed the word over inside his head and decided it sounded right. "Special."

"Alright then," Yixing got up and tossed the cube to Luhan, who caught it with wide eyes. "Think about that. Sleep on it. Or something." Yixing said lazily as he stretched out a crick in his back and sauntered off, leaving Luhan in a daze.

"Where are you going?" Luhan called after he realized Yixing was no longer in the living room.

"Steal food from Baekhyun." Yixing shouted from down the hall, already toeing into his Converse.

"Wait! I'm coming with you."

 

 

Luhan was unusually absentminded for the rest of the day, which luckily incurred minimal losses because he was done with his exams and just had to put his writing portfolio together for a spring internship. Despite the ruckus around him in the townhouse common area (mostly produced by Tao, Jongdae, Baekhyun, and a very irked Chanyeol who seemed to be innately terrible at Mario Kart), Luhan couldn't stop thinking about that mysterious message and what Yixing said, still having trouble putting two and two together. He just didn't understand what his Secret Santa was trying to tell him.

Sehun blew a tapioca ball through the straw at Luhan. It flew into his gelled hair where it was lodged securely. There was no reaction.

Sehun and Yixing exchanged conspiratorial glances. Yixing snuck up behind Luhan and gave him a sudden shove in the shoulders. Luhan yelped and jumped a foot into the air, jabbing his big toe in the foot of the lounge chair. He turned around to a giggling Yixing and cackling Sehun and scowled.

"What the fuck was that for??" Luhan flopped back down into the chair and rubbed his sore toe.

"I was calling you and you weren't answering." Yixing offered an innocent shrug. Sehun gave him a figurative applause through a smug grin.

"Oh you were?" Luhan replied, unsuspecting. "Sorry, I was thinking about stuff."

Yixing tried to keep his snigger to a minimum.

"Anyway, I was just wondering..." Yixing perched himself on the armrest, eyes on the four boxes on the flat screen. Sehun had shifted to the loveseat next to Luhan's chair, scooting over Joonmyeon who was somehow immune to all the distractions and fervently working on linear algebra. "What did you get today from your Secret Santa?"

Luhan blinked, processing the question. _Oh_.

"Nothing." The delayed realization of the situation sent a frown to Luhan's face. This was odd because he would usually get something by dinner time, albeit it being loosely defined by college students with jumbled biological clocks. It was past 9 pm already and he just realized he hadn't received anything today.

"Really. That's weird." Yixing raised an eyebrow curiously. He glanced at Sehun, who shrugged and seemed equally baffled. After a moment of pondering, Sehun took out his phone and began typing.

 

_To: Kkamjong_  
 _Nothing for Luhan hyung today? What happened?_

"Maybe they'll have it delivered later," Yixing consoled Luhan, who didn't know his disappointment was practically written across his forehead in size-72 bold letters.

"It's okay. It's not like they had to give something everyday." Luhan tried to look like he didn't feel a little empty as he absentmindedly picked up a bubble tea drink off the table and sipped from it. Then he grimaced at the taro taste.

"Hey, that's mine!" Minseok called from across the room, shooting Luhan a displeased look.

"My bad," Luhan smiled apologetically. "But how do you drink this stuff? Taro tastes disgusting." He exaggerated a barfing gesture. Minseok glared at him and huffed as he strided across to the table and snatched his drink from Luhan's hand. Luhan stuck out his tongue at him.

Yixing watched the two in slight amusement, then looked back to Sehun, who shook his head with pursed lips. He never got a response from Jongin. Sehun pushed up from the chair and whispered in Yixing's ear.

"I'm gonna go check on him."

Yixing nodded. Sehun glanced at Luhan, who was again lost in thought as he mindlessly chucked spare ketchup packets at Jongdae's head.

Sehun dialed Jongin's number as he slipped his shoes on at the door. No answer. He hung up and tried again. Voicemail.

He broke into a brisk walk once he left the townhouse, deep creases on his forehead.

 

 

"Jongin?"

Sehun knocked and then put his ear against the door to Jongin's room. No response. He turned the knob and let himself in. The room was dim owing to the bedside lamp, and Sehun squinted, scanning the room in the dark. Jongin was in bed, comforter pulled over his head. Or Sehun hoped the mound was Jongin and not a random assortment of blankets, or he might have to report a missing person to campus security. He flipped on the light switch and walked over to the bed.

"Jongin?" Sehun crouched and tentatively poked at what he assumed was Jongin's shoulders. He caught a glimpse of something flashing next to the pillow, indicating a number of missed calls and unread text messages in Jongin's phone.

The mound shifted and Jongin peeked out from under the comforter, eyes heavily lidded and terribly ashen, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Oh my god." Sehun muttered, eyes jerking wide open. His hand flew to Jongin's forehead. It was scalding hot. "You have a fever. Fuck."

"I'm cold." Jongin whined, pulling the comforter tighter and slid back underneath. "I'll just sleep it off..."

"No, you dumbass," Sehun snapped. "You need fucking NyQuil." He straightened up and pulled out his phone, texting a mass message asking for all kinds of fever medicine imaginable. He sent another message to Yixing updating him on what's happening.

 

_To: Yixing hyung_  
 _Jongin's running a fever... I doubt Luhan hyung will be getting anything today :x_

_From: Yixing hyung_  
 _Yikes... alright I'll take care of it_

Sehun walked over to Jongin's closet and rummaged inside a drawer, pulling out a hand towel that looked relatively clean.

"I'll be right back." Sehun spoke to the cocoon of fabric and headed to the kitchen. He poured a glass of water, but decided to just bring the whole pitcher, and retrieved a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge. Then he ran some cold water over the towel to dampen it.

"When did you start feeling sick?" Sehun asked with a frown as he patted Jongin's burning forehead with the damp towel. "You should've told me, moron." Sehun muttered and sighed. He hadn't seen Jongin since after lunch because Jongin sat for his last exam in accounting in the afternoon, then rushed back to his room to work on the last gift before he had to go to the dance team end-of-semester performance. It didn't take much for Sehun to figure out why Jongin got sick. He had been staying up two days in a row and trying to stay alive between cramming for comp lit and then accounting, hours of dance practice, and working on the gift for the Secret Santa reveal, which Jongin had been extremely high-strung about.

"I don't know, halfway through accounting maybe. I started feeling really hot." Jongin mumbled, taking a sip of water, half-propped up against his pillow.

"You should've taken a nap afterward." Sehun looked at him with disapproval.

"I couldn't. I had to finish--" Jongin stopped himself short. "Fuck. Shit. FUCK!" He blurted out agitatedly. "I forgot about today's delivery," he said in a small voice, nearly whimpering as he clawed his face in frustration. "How could I forget??!!"

"It's fine, don't sweat it." Sehun tried consoling Jongin, patting him through the towel. "He didn't seem that disappointed anyway," Sehun fibbed. Jongin threw him a sharp look before withering further and pulling the comforter over his head, letting out all sorts of groans. Sehun thought maybe he kind of sucked at comforting people.

"Just kidding, I lied." The comforter stilled. "He was actually really disappointed," Sehun admitted. But he heard muffled sobs from the mound again. Sehun heaved a slow sigh.

"Look, it's not that big a deal--"

"But it is!" Jongin rolled around and whined. "Even though I was just gonna have Wangjia deliver fried rice..."

"Fried rice? Really?" Sehun snorted, brows cocked teasingly. "You planned to woo him with a Chinese takeout delivery?"

"He's said their shrimp fried frice is _special_ , okay," Jongin yanked the comforter open and hissed before mumbling something about "you don't understand" and "best fried rice".

Sehun was about to ask how he knew that when his phone rang. Distracted by his thoughts, he picked up without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello? Okay could you bring it--wait Luhan hyung???"

Sehun had apparently forgotten to manually remove Luhan from the group chat list he sent the mass message to earlier. And now Luhan was coming up in the elevator with fever medicine. Sehun groaned and smacked his forehead, trying to ignore Jongin's questioning looks.

"Alright uhh," Sehun turned sideways and avoided Jongin's eyes guiltily as he spoke into the phone. "Do you know which floor? 'Kay see ya." Sehun hung up and finally turned around to Jongin, bracing himself for a punch.

"What?"

"Luhan hyung's coming up."

"WHAT???" Jongin yelped. "Why would he?? Wait, he can't come in! I have all the Secret Santa shit lying around, he's gonna find out--"

"Chill out, okay? He just came to bring medicine." Sehun supplied unhelpfully. Jongin suddenly felt lightheaded and collapsed into the bed, too weak to strangle Sehun as he had every intention of doing so.

"It's fine, I'll meet him out in the hall so he wouldn't come in," Sehun offered. Jongin did not find that very reassuring and chose to wrap himself into the comforter again, turned to the wall and huffing in despair.

Sehun opened the door and went to the end of the hall. While waiting for Luhan, he racked his brain for a way to divert Luhan so he wouldn't end up barging into Jongin's room. Luhan emerged from the elevator moments later, a plastic bag in his hand, while Sehun was in the middle of furiously typing a text message to Yixing.

"So yeah, I have Tylenol PM but if it's really bad, I heard NyQuil works better, so I got that from Joonmyeon." Luhan explained once he fell in step with Sehun.

"Awesome. Thanks, hyung." Sehun smiled and reached for the bag in Luhan's hand but grabbed air instead as Luhan broke into strides, heading to Jongin's room.

"Whoa, hold on." Sehun took a quick lunge forward and gripped Luhan by the shoulder, stopping him in his track.

"What?" Luhan turned around and looked at Sehun quizzically. "I thought these were for Jongin?"

"Uh, yeah." Sehun prayed for Yixing to hurry up because his brain was not acting fast enough to stall Luhan without acting suspiciously. "But I can take them for him." Sehun feigned thoughtfulness and managed what he thought was a reassuring smile.

Luhan opened his mouth to question when his phone went off. Sehun exhaled in relief as Luhan answered the call.

"Looks like I need to get back. Yixing's bunny is missing and he's hyperventilating." Luhan said after he hung up with a small frown, handing the bag over to Sehun.

Sehun made a mental note to self to take acting lessons from Yixing.

"Okay, no problem." Sehun tried to not sound elated and turned to leave when Luhan put a hand on his arm.

"Jongin..." Luhan began, then paused as if choosing his words carefully. "Make sure he gets some rest, will you? He looked like a zombie at comp lit yesterday, and even worse at the performance earlier." The concern in Luhan's eyes was so palpable Sehun was stumped for a moment.

"Uhm, yeah, of course." Sehun stammered out a reply. Luhan patted him on the arm and strolled back to the elevator bank. Sehun watched his back in thought and then looked down at the medicine inside the bag.

Then it dawned on him that Luhan just told him he went to Jongin's performance.

Jongin was the only person in their group of friends who was on the school dance team.  
  
Sehun smiled to himself. He already knew that the reveal tomorrow would go swimmingly well.

 

 

 

 


	7. The Reveals

_To: EXO dance club members_   
_From: Joonmyeon Kim_

_As you all are aware (I hope), tonight is our Secret Santa Reveals. Please come to the 12th floor lounge at East Campus by 8PM SHARP with your final gift. If you're late, the door will be locked and you will be left outside to cry because you won't get your final present. Kidding. But I do need you all to be here on time._

_Also, remember to use the label I had distributed at the name draw to indicate the name of your Mortal. Preferably in legible handwriting. If you've lost it or fed it to your pet by accident, go buy one yourself. I don't have any more of those._

_If you need to get signed in, call me, Yixing, or Baekhyun._

_See y'all at 8!_

_Joonmyeon_

_p.s. Refreshment will be served._   
_p.p.s. No I will not be providing weed brownies._

 

 

Jongin snorted at the email, but felt his stomach clench nervously. He had wrapped up (figuratively and physically) the final present that morning, which now wore a name tag labelled "LUHAN" and sat on his bed in a brown paper bag. He was still feeling slightly feverish, but loads better than the day before when he felt literally like death. The NyQuil (as well as the random assortment of supplements he found in the plastic bag) helped tremendously, and it made him feel guilty rather than grateful that it was brought by Luhan. Sehun called him stupid for feeling that way, but he couldn't help it.

He could never help the way he felt.

 

 

Sehun, Jongin, and Yoona were in the same dorm, so they headed to East Campus together when it was about ten minutes to eight. Once they arrived in the lobby, Sehun called Baekhyun to come down and sign them in. Yoona eyed Jongin's paper bag curiously.

"Who do you have?" Yoona probed, craning her neck around Jongin to peek into the bag. Jongin frowned and tucked it behind him.

"I'm not telling you."

"Oh come on, it'll get revealed soon anyway. What difference does it make?" Yoona nudged him in the arm. Jongin ignored her as he took a sudden interest in the mini-Buddha perched on the security guard's counter, poking the protruded golden belly. He perked up when the elevator door dinged and out walked Baekhyun, who greeted them enthusiastically and quickly signed them in.

Jongin chose to stand in the corner away from Yoona in the elevator, the brown paper bag pressed against his butt. Yoona narrowed her eyes at him.

The elevator stopped at an interim floor and a few people filed in. Yoona took the chance to step over and stand next to Jongin. Jongin glared at her.

"It's Luhan oppa, isn't it?" Yoona whispered. Sehun, who was on the other side of Jongin, caught her words and fought back a snort.

Jongin whipped his head around and gaped.

"It is?" Yoona seemed surprised herself. "Wow, I really do kick ass at guessing."

Jongin wanted to smack his bag upside her head.

"This is interesting." Yoona mused to no one in particular, a finger drumming her chin. The elevator door dinged at 12 and they filed out one after another.

"Very, very interesting." Yoona mumbled behind Jongin, who failed to hear her as he was still fuming and wondering how come everyone knew that he had Luhan.

 

 

"Alright, guys. Settle down, please." Joonmyeon called out over the group sitting in a circle. Voices were gradually hushed as everyone turned their attention to the club president standing in the middle, a cluster of brown paper bags set next to his feet.

"Now that we're all gathered here, let the highly anticipated reveals commence!" Joonmyeon exclaimed, tossing his arms into the air dramatically. There was a moment of silence before giggles and snorts bursted throughout the circle.

"Is it that difficult for you to talk normal?" Jongdae griped, rolling his eyes. Joonmyeon turned and scowled at him.

"You go first then, Mr. Wisecrack." Joonmyeon huffed as he shuffled across and sat down on the floor, scooting over a semi-amused Kris. Jongdae shrugged and got up. He crouched down over the paper bags and peeked into them, looking for his name.

The reveals went such that someone would go up and locate the present labelled with their name, then guess who their Secret Santa was. Each person would get three guesses for the sake of time. After the person was revealed, they would go on and find the present from their own Secret Santa, and so on.

Jongin watched the exchange with disinterest as he tried to digest the anxiety bubbling in his guts. He didn't realize how restless he was until Sehun, sitting next to him, pressed a hand into his knee, stilling his leg. He turned to Sehun, who gave him a reassuring smile while patting on his thigh. Jongin smiled back weakly.

"I just really need this to be over." Jongin mumbled.

"Yeah, me too." Sehun concurred, but for a whole different reason, his lips quirking upward gleefully.

The reveals went on smoothly, with most people guessing who their Secret Santa was on the first or second try. In their tight-knit circle of friends, it was relatively easy (for some) to guess, and using the process of elimination as identities were revealed, guessing was getting easier and easier.

"Alright, well," Kris scanned the few people that were still left unrevealed after peeking into the gift box. "It could only be Tao." His eyes landed on the said person, who seemed shocked.

"How did you guess?" Tao smiled sheepishly.

"Who else would give me an Armani wallet?" Kris grinned as he pulled Tao into a hug. "Thanks, dude."

"Okay so Tao, you're up next." Joonmyeon called across the room, mindlessly squishing Winnie the Pooh in its belly, a present from his Secret Santa (Sehun).

"Huh?" Tao looked at Joonmyeon in confusion. "But I already went." He raised the Gucci belt and wagged it in the air.

Joonmyeon blinked, and so did everyone else as they directed their eyes to the center of the circle.

There were two bags remaining.

"Wait so that means..." Yixing piped up, looking around the room. "Two people got each other."

Jongin suddenly became hyperware of how loud his heart was drumming and how air seemed to have escaped his lungs entirely.

 

_The bubble tea on the first day, almond, his favorite_   
_The fried chicken on the second day, an obscene amount of it_   
_The chillstep mix CD of the Weeknd, Ne-Yo, and Maxwell on the third day_   
_The bottles of Gatorade and vitamin water sitting in his locker after dance practice on the fourth day_   
_The poem on the fifth day_   
_The bag with the fever medicine that was a care package in itself on the sixth day, with cough drops and vitamin powder packets_

_The poem._

"Who didn't go yet?" Joonmyeon asked. Jongin's tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of his mouth. He caught Luhan looking at him.

Jongin swallowed.

"Me." Luhan spoke and all eyes jerked to him. Jongin stared as Luhan pushed off the floor and strolled to where the paper bags stood. He wondered how Luhan could look so calm and then remembered only he had reasons to be nearly pissing his pants right now.

Jongin tried very hard to not moan into his hands and flee from the room when Luhan took out the gift-wrapped object from the paper bag.

Luhan cast Jongin a look before tearing through the wrapping paper. Jongin felt his stomach drop twelve floors down to the basement. He fixed his eyes on Luhan while the rest of him trembled uncontrollably, his heart hooked to the most miniscule shift in Luhan's face.

Luhan stilled when he saw what was underneath the wrapping paper. He dragged a hand down the handmade paper cover, fingers quivering, and opened it. He flipped through the pages and had to stop because his eyes were beginning to smart.

It was a photobook. Pages of photographs and Polaroids over the past three years of college tacked onto off-white matte-finish paper, with handwritten messages from his closest friends weaved in between, bound by red strings.

"Luhan? You okay?" Yixing called, getting on his feet but hesitant to approach Luhan, who looked like he needed space to digest what was happening. The room was silent, eyes waiting and breaths held in anticipation.

Luhan nodded, still looking down at the book. He broke into a small smile and Jongin inhaled sharply, having held his breath all this time. Then air rushed out from his lungs again when Luhan looked up and met his eyes.

The room was quiet. Too quiet. Jongin thought he could probably go deaf from the way his heart roared inside his ears. He started when Sehun spoke next to him.

"Now it's your turn, Jongin." Sehun said softly as he placed a hand on Jongin's elbow and nudged him forward gently.

Jongin somehow got up and his shaky legs carried him to the center of the circle, disquieted eyes on his feet so he wouldn't trip. Then he was standing before Luhan, feeling like the room was spinning.

Luhan picked up the last paper bag and handed it over to Jongin.

"Here you go." Luhan said in a voice so small Jongin thought maybe he imagined it. Maybe he was imagining the whole thing.

But Jongin raised a barely steady hand and took the bag anyway, and when he took out what was inside and his fingers peeled off the wrapping paper, Jongin was glad he hadn't imagined any of this.

It was a photobook, with colored and black-and-white photographs printed on glossy ivory paper bound by a classic leather spine.

"What a coincidence, huh?" Luhan chuckled at the shock on Jongin's face. "We gave each other the same thing."

Jongin finally raised his eyes and he couldn't help but smile because Luhan's eyes were so soft and affectionate and it made Jongin feel so, so warm inside.

"That's not the same thing." Someone piped up behind Jongin, startling him that he almost jumped and flailed into Luhan. It was Sehun, raking his eyes over Luhan's photobook in Jongin's hands in awe. "Luhan hyung's is obviously better."

Jongin opened his mouth to retaliate but Luhan was one step ahead of him.

"I like Jongin's better though."

Jongin flushed, and Sehun just rolled his eyes.

"Uh huh, if you say so." Sehun quickly lost interest in them and latched onto Tao as he passed by with a plate of brownies. Jongin vaguely heard Sehun ask if those had weed in them.

"Jongin." Luhan called, snapping Jongin out of his reverie. "I want you to read the last page, okay?"

Jongin nodded, face still burning. Luhan looked at him with thoughts in his eyes, then his lips curved into Jongin's favorite smile. Jongin stared until Luhan was dragged away by Minseok, who was babbling something about a soccer game on TV in the eighth floor lounge. Jongin watched his back and smiled back anyway.

Now left alone, Jongin curled into a couch in the corner, tucking his legs into his chest. He sprawled the photobook across his thighs and read as slowly and carefully as he possibly could. These were mostly photos of him dancing, either at practice or in performance, and Jongin wondered how Luhan got a hold of those, especially the ones from the practice sessions. There were short sentences typed in cursive near some of the pictures, inspirational quotes from authors, some he had never heard of. Then Jongin arrived at the last page.

It was a letter. From Luhan to Jongin, the self-proclaimed amateur dancer who was incredibly talented but afraid to take the big step that could change his life. Luhan told him to stop doubting himself and go where his passion nudged him, to switch his major from econ to dance, to embrace the fact that dance made up a large part of who he was and to embrace that too.

_"I'm pushing you off the cliff because your wings matured a long time ago. You're ready to fly, and it would make me really happy to watch you soar."_

Jongin tore out of his seat and bolted out the lounge with a hand covering teary eyes, but he never got to the restroom because out of nowhere, a pair of arms were thrown around him from behind. He stilled when the person mumbled into his back.

"Thank you, Jongin." Luhan tugged and wrapped his arms tighter. "Thank you for treating me like I'm extraordinary."

Luhan had read Jongin's message for him in the photobook. From Jongin to Luhan, the aspiring writer who was budding with creative potential but struggling with biting opposition from his parents. Jongin told him to never stop writing because the world would be a worse place without it, to stay grounded in his passion because no one could ever take that away from him, and to write that book he's been wanting to for the longest time but kept letting the fear of failure get in the way.

_"Because I believe in you, I believe in your talent and your dreams. Don't ever let anyone -- not even your parents -- tell you that you're just like anybody else because you're not. You're extraordinary."_

Jongin smiled and turned around, wrapping Luhan into his chest. He felt tears drop onto his shoulders and he held tighter, a hand smoothing over Luhan's head.

"Because you are. You're special and extraordinary and perfect." Jongin murmured into Luhan's hair. Luhan pulled away, frowning.

"I'm not perfect," he muttered, hands curling into the pockets of Jongin's sweatshirt. Jongin laughed, the tears in his eyes drying. He raised his lips to Luhan's forehead and pressed in for a long, long time.

 

"You are to me."

 

 


End file.
